Secondary containment systems are widely employed for above-ground petroleum storage tanks, chemical storage tanks and similar facilities in order to capture hazardous liquid that leaks or spills from the tank. Secondary containment is also used for retention ponds, lakes and similar facilities to prevent polluting substances such as drill water, acids, gases and unsafe chemicals from entering the water table. Conventional secondary containment systems employ an impermeable or impervious liner that extends across a basin or retention area. The liner, which is designed to prevent petroleum, chemicals or other hazardous materials from seeping into the ground, typically comprises a plurality of juxtaposed geotextile fabric panels, which must be cut and then arranged and assembled across the containment area. A waterproof coating material, such as polyurea, is sprayed onto the assembled liner to render the liner impermeable to the passage of hazardous liquids discharged into the containment area.
Prior methods of assembling and installing secondary containment liners on-site have generally been extremely time consuming, costly and inefficient. Spraying polyurea onto the liner in the field requires that large amounts of polyurea coating and affiliated applicator equipment be transported to and from the secondary containment site. The coating itself is typically transported to the site in 55 gallon drums. After the drums are emptied and the coating is applied to the geotextile fabric, the drums must be removed for disposal. In addition, bulky applicator equipment including pumps, hoses, etc. must be transported to and from the secondary containment site. A considerable number of man hours are usually required to apply the coating completely over the fabric. All of this adds greatly to the complexity and expense of installing the secondary containment system.
Not only are the assembly and installation of conventional liner systems on-site logistically complicated, unduly time consuming and costly, the polyurea and geotextile fabric constituents themselves are also extremely expensive. In addition, a significant amount of polyurea tends to be wasted during the application procedure due to adverse weather conditions, equipment failures, applicator errors, etc. Even when such liner systems are properly installed, the time and labor required for such installation tend to dramatically increase the cost of the secondary containment system.